THOUSANDS of workers are to cut their working week to four days with no loss of pay in a pioneering pilot project in Britain.

The project, involving 70 companies and 3,000 workers, is a collaboration between by the 4 Day Week Global group, think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.

It will last six months and is the biggest pilot programme of its kind in the world.

Workers will be expected to maintain 100 per cent production while working one day less a week.

Industries involved include banking, care, education and hospitality.

Joe O’Connor, chief executive of 4 Day Week Global, said: “The UK is at the crest of a wave of global momentum behind the four-day week.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognising that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge.”

Lead researcher Juliet Schor from Boston College said: “We’ll be analysing how employees respond to having an extra day off, in terms of stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel and many other aspects of life.

Ed Siegel, chief executive of Charity Bank, one of the companies taking part in the trial, said: “We firmly believe that a four-day week with no change to salary or benefits will create a happier workforce and will have an equally positive impact on business productivity, customer experience and our social mission.”